The year 2020 is surely to be remembered for the pandemic that swept the globe and affected the lives of millions of people and touched practically every industry sector. Despite the hardships faced, the nuclear industry has thrived with its promise of coupling American innovation and a zero-carbon energy solution. This blog post will highlight
Advanced Reactors
Energy Act of 2020—Variety of Provisions for Fission and Fusion
On Monday evening, Congress passed a $900B omnibus spending bill, which contains, most importantly, relief measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also various authorizations and appropriations for FY2021, including $1.5 billion for fission and fusion energy programs. Title II of the Energy Act of 2020 (located at “Division Z” of the spending bill)…
Amy Roma Blogs in Support of ANIA
We want to raise to our readers that one of the blog authors, Amy Roma, in her personal capacity spoke out in support for the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act (ANIA) in the latest Atlantic Council blog post, entitled The American Nuclear Infrastructure Act provides bipartisan support for nuclear innovation in the United States.
The…
American Nuclear Infrastructure Act 2020 Safeguards the Future of Nuclear
Today U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act (ANIA) 2020. The provisions of ANIA are intended to help ensure that the U.S. is competitive with countries like Russia and China on nuclear technology advancement and project development abroad. Among other…
Substantive Development of “Part 53” Kicks Off
The NRC staff is moving forward with development of the 10 CFR Part 53 rulemaking, which will establish a new framework for licensing and regulating advanced nuclear reactors (and potentially also extending to fusion systems). The agency is taking a novel approach to rule development on an expedited schedule, including hosting frequent public meetings and…
DOE Awards $160M for Advanced Nuclear
On October 13, 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded X-energy and TerraPower $80M each for their respective initiatives to build advanced nuclear reactors.
The proposals were evaluated under the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP), a new endeavor in the Office of Nuclear Energy. According to Dr. Rita Baranwal, the Assistant Secretary for Nuclear…
NRC Commission Approves GEIS for Advanced Nuclear Reactors
On September 21, 2020, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) voted to develop and codify a Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for the construction and operation of advanced nuclear reactors through a technology-neutral, plant parameter envelope (PPE) approach. GEISs have the potential to materially reduce the licensing burden on NRC advanced reactor applicants, given that environmental…
DOE Re-Opens Arctic Energy Office with Emphasis on Advanced Nuclear
On September 17, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the re-opening of its Arctic Energy Office (AEO), which was originally established in 2001, but failed to take off due to insufficient funding. Senator Murkowski (R-AK) pushed for the re-establishment of this office in the 2020 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill, which supported the “promotion…
Summer Updates on Advanced Reactors: New proposed nuclear legislation, updates on foreign investment, SMRs for moon and Mars
Draft legislation American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020 set to provide further support for advanced reactors
On July 29th, Senator Barrasso (R-WY) introduced a draft bill, the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020 (ANIA), which, aims to re-establish U.S. international competitiveness and global leadership in nuclear power. Among other things, the draft bill would—
- Empower
…
DCF Opens Door to Fund Nuclear Power Projects Abroad
On July 23, 2020, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DCF) announced its intention to open the door to funding opportunities for nuclear projects abroad.
In a summary of its decision following a voluntary 30-day comment period, DCF announced that it has enabled “its full suite of finance products to support all civil nuclear projects…